Motor City Hoops Classic set for Detroit's riverfront

Planned layout of the MetroPCS Motor City Hoops Classic benefiting the Detroit Goodfellows and Detroit RiverFront Conservancy. Games will take place June 7-8.

How the tournament works

Tournament open to adults and kids (in fourth grade through high school) with divisions based on age, skill level and gender.

Special divisions for corporations, police, fire and wheelchair athletes

Round Robin games June 7-8, with playoffs June 8.

All teams guaranteed three 20-minute (or first to 21 points) games, weather permitting.

Referees on every court.

Awards given to first- and second-place teams.

More information at motorcityhoopsclassic.com.

Organizers of the MetroPCS Motor City Hoops Classic are encouraging Detroit businesses to get in the game in a new 3-on-3 basketball tournament June 7-8 on the city's riverfront.

Presented by Opportunity Detroit, the tournament will benefit the Detroit Goodfellows and Detroit RiverFront Conservancy. It is expected to draw approximately 400 teams that will compete in divisions based on age, skill and gender, said Jeff Corey, the event's spokesman.

Corey said teams from corporations will compete in their own division.

"The goal is to bring the business community together as a form of camaraderie and fun competition," he said.

There will be separate divisions for police officers, firefighters and wheelchair athletes, and Detroit Police Chief James Craig will be the honorary tournament director.

In addition to the 3-on-3 tournament, a three-point shootout and free-throw shooting contest will be held, as well as free clinics for participants in the fourth- through eighth-grade divisions.

The idea for the Motor City Hoops Classic came from the Detroit Goodfellows, known for distributing holiday gift packages to needy children around the holidays, as a way to celebrate the organization's 100th anniversary and showcase that the organization works year-round in Detroit, said Jon Witz of Jonathan Witz & Associates, the event's producer.

Witz said he hopes to have enough sponsors to cover the cost of putting on the event so that all the proceeds raised from team entry fees will go toward the Goodfellows and Detroit RiverFront Conservancy.

He said because this is the tournament's first year, it is too early to estimate how much money will be raised for the organizations, although it would most likely be "in the thousands of dollars."

In 2009, Witz, who also organizes Arts, Beats & Eats in Royal Oak and the Meridian Winter Blast at Campus Martius, produced the Big Dance Festival in downtown Detroit to celebrate the Final Four's visit to the city in 2009.

"Downtown Detroit's last celebration of basketball was a big success, and we expect the same this year," said Witz.

Besides distributing 35,000 gift packages during the holiday season, the Detroit Goodfellows provide free shoes, emergency dental service to children, scholarships to Wayne State University and assistance to send hundreds of disadvantaged kids to camp each summer throughout the year.

The Detroit RiverFront Conservancy, a nonprofit founded in 2003 to develop public access to Detroit's riverfront and serve as an anchor for economic development, is responsible for raising funds needed for construction, operation, maintenance, security and programming of public spaces along the Detroit River.

The tournament will be anchored at the General Motors Co. headquarters at the Renaissance Center, with play on 34 courts adjacent to the city's riverwalk.

Registration for the tournament is $125 for adult teams (four members per team) and $110 for youth teams before April 15, and $135 and $125 after that until the May 23 registration deadline. For more information and to register, go to motorcityhoopsclassic.com.